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I am mostly concerned here with reasons for the Democrat losses.
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There is a tendency to blame the president for everything that happens to the country. Hillary was viewed by many as an extension of Pres. Obama, who was wrongly blamed for a lack of progress, even though it was mostly GOP obstructionism that was at fault.
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It is hard to prove, but the Democrat loss could be the result of FBI Director Comey pronouncements at critical times. The first problem was his assessment of Hillary as “extremely careless.” He has no baseline for comparison. Maybe if other leaders were examined in detail, they would have been worse. The next problem was his announcement of additional email investigation, 11 days before the election — violating agency rules. The election was very close, and without Comey’s electioneering Hillary might have won. Comey and many FBI officials are Republicans. It is well established that there were FBI-agent leaks and excessive investigative actions.
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I really like Hillary, but I felt from the beginning that she was not the best choice in the primaries. Hillary is a popular person, has a good organization, and would make a good president, but subjectively, does not fit the picture that most people have of a powerful leader. The primary process does not always work in the best way, and we need to figure out how to improve it.
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It is not her fault, but an old woman is going to appear weak compared to an old man. Leaders just have to look strong. Her husband once said that it is better to be strong than right. I really think she could have done better, 20 years younger.
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Another factor is that Hillary is a good speaker, but not a great one like her husband and Pres. Obama. Her answers about emails and other issues were OK but could have been better.
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Hillary may have spent too much time criticizing Trump and not enough time detailing her plans for America. She could have presented charts comparing herself with Trump on major points.
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Republicans were very clever in repeating investigations and negative characterizations almost continuously for the entire time of her presidential candidacy. If a large group of people keep saying that you are bad, even if not true, it can have an effect.
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Many people have rigid beliefs that interfere with good judgment. They often start with a simple belief that Republicans are good and Democrats are bad. Then if you want change, you are stuck with Trump as the only Republican that really promotes new ways.
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The press, in their efforts to make money, tend to cover exciting people like Trump, more that reliable people like Hillary. There also seemed to be a fear factor: reporters often avoided asking Trump the really important questions and instead focused on insults and revenge. Really challenging Trump could banish you from certain types of coverage, and/or you could suffer other effects of infamous vengeance.
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It is sad to say, most people everywhere, here and abroad, do not have the ability to tell truth from fiction, do not really research candidates, and rely on biased sources of info, such as Fox News. Only a small percentage of the population has the ability to process election facts and info, and to draw the best conclusions.
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I am not going to add much on problems going forward with Trump’s leadership. But one thing really stands out in my mind, and that is the re-writing of history. If Trump or his administration makes a mistake, he will simply deny or change the facts to make it look like someone else’s fault (judging from past strategies). Or he will intimidate agencies to alter their data and/or analyses. This could keep him and destructive governmental leaders in power indefinitely. Rich donors and leaders (our USA royalty class) are firmly entrenched in our society, now, and probably well into the future.